The present invention relates to a cartridge of make-up container and make-up material container.
With regard to a cosmetic container which feeds out a stick type cosmetic material housed in a cartridge, such as eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, or lipstick, through an opening provided at an upper end of the cartridge due to rotations of the cartridge and a container body, there are proposals, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 60-48706, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 4-30961, and the like.
Further, with regard to a cosmetic container, among the cosmetic containers described above, in which if a cartridge is removed from a container body, a stick type cosmetic material fed out of the cartridge will automatically be housed in the cartridge, there are proposals, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 3-50814 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-21390 which have been applied by the applicant of the present invention.
In a cosmetic container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 3-50814 among them, a feeding mechanism is installed at a container body. As a cartridge fitted to the container body rotates, the feeding mechanism actuates and feeds out an extrusion beam which is installed at the container body in such a manner that the extrusion beam can slide in an axial direction. Pressed out by the extrusion beam, a stick type cosmetic material in the cartridge is fed out. Further, a return spring is provided at the extrusion beam and a support member for the stick type cosmetic material, respectively, and when the cartridge is removed from the container body, these return springs automatically return.
Further, in a cosmetic container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-21390, a feeding mechanism is provided on the side of a cartridge, and a shaft is installed at the container body in a standing position. The shaft is a guide shaft for a push rod which is fed out by the feeding mechanism and the shaft is engaged with the push rod in such a manner that the shaft cannot rotate, but can slide in an axial direction. Thus, when the container body and the cartridge rotate, the push rod rotates to the cartridge, the push rod is fed out by the feeding mechanism, and a stick type cosmetic material retained at an upper end of the push rod is fed out. Further, a return spring for pushing back the push rod to an initial position is provided on the cartridge side, and it is arranged such that when the cartridge is removed from the container body, the stick type cosmetic material is drawn back to an initial position.
However, in the cosmetic container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 3-50814 described above, when the cartridge is removed from the container body, the extrusion beam on the container body side and the support member for the stick type cosmetic material on the cartridge side are returned, respectively. Thus, separate return springs are required and a cost of the entire cosmetic container increases. Further, overall length of the cosmetic container has to be approximately the sum total of the length of the cartridge and the length of the extrusion beam, whereby the cosmetic container becomes huge.
On the other hand, the cosmetic container disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-21390 has the advantages that only a single return spring is required and the overall length of the cosmetic container can relatively be short. However, in the cosmetic container, the shaft having a length at least equivalent to a stroke of the push rod has to be installed at the container body in a standing position, whereby constitution of the container body becomes complicated. Further, it is necessary that a hole in which the shaft is engaged is formed at the push rod, whereby a certain thickness is required. Therefore, the cosmetic container has to be thick by a portion equivalent to a thickness of the push rod, whereby it is difficult to be applicable to a cosmetic material having a thin diameter. Further, the push rod and the container body synchronously rotate during operation of the feeding mechanism. Therefore, in order to prevent the stick type cosmetic material fed out from rotating to the front cylinder of the cartridge, it has to be constituted such that the support member for the stick type cosmetic material is separated from the push rod, whereby constitution of the cartridge becomes complicated.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for a cosmetic container or the cosmetic container in which a stick type cosmetic material automatically returns by removing the cartridge, constitution of a container body can be simplified, it is possible to apply to a various kinds of stick type cosmetic materials, and operation of automatic return is stabilized.
In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides a cartridge for a cosmetic container or the container having the following constitution.
In a cartridge for a cosmetic container which is installed at a container body in such a manner that the cartridge can easily be attached and removed, houses and retains a stick type cosmetic material therein, and moves the stick type cosmetic material forward and backward through an opening provided at an upper end by a rotation together with the container body, there are provided a front cylinder having the upper end opening and a cylindrical body at least a part of which is housed in the front cylinder in such a manner that the cylindrical body can rotate, but cannot slide. A cartridge body is composed of the front cylinder and the cylindrical body. A beam is housed in the cartridge body and a cosmetic material retaining section for retaining the stick type cosmetic material is formed on the side of an upper end of the beam. There are provided a sliding mechanism for retaining the beam in the front cylinder in such a manner that the beam cannot rotate, but can slide, a feeding mechanism for feeding out the beam in an axial direction by relative rotations of the beam and the cylindrical body, and a spring for always urging the beam backward. A synchronous engagement means which is synchronously engaged with the container body is installed at a lower end part of the cylindrical body.
The stick type cosmetic material does not rotate to the front cylinder and therefore the stick type cosmetic material makes a stroke in a smooth and stable manner. Thus, for example, even in the case that the stick type cosmetic material automatically returns, it is hard for the stick type cosmetic material to break.
Further, since the container body is connected with the cylindrical body via the synchronous engagement means, when the cartridge is drawn out of the container body, the stick type cosmetic material automatically returns. Therefore, feed-down operation can be facilitated and also constitution of the container body can be simplified with a function to prevent the stick type cosmetic material from breaking being held.
Further, the beam can have a thin diameter because it is not necessary to provide a hole to be used for connecting the beam with the container body, whereby a diameter of the cartridge body can sufficiently be small. Therefore, it is possible to easily constitute the cosmetic container which is applicable to a stick type cosmetic material having a thin diameter.
When the cylindrical body is entirely housed in the front cylinder, an outer frame of the cartridge is composed of the front cylinder which is a single member. Thus, when the cartridge is removed from the container body, if the cartridge is kept to be a single unit, a user cannot rotate the front cylinder and the cylindrical body while holding them. In other words, unless the cartridge is installed at the container body, operation of feeding out the stick type cosmetic material from the cartridge will not be carried out. Thus, it is possible to prevent the stick type cosmetic material from breaking or being damaged which may occur resulting from feeding it out by an operational error at the time of removing the cartridge from the container body.
It is arranged such that a lower end part of the cylindrical body and a lower end part of the front cylinder are of almost same height, the synchronous engagement means is composed of spline grooves formed on an inner circumferential surface on the lower end side of the cylindrical body, and a synchronous engagement shaft formed at a bottom of the container body is engaged with the spline grooves by spline connection. Thus, the cylindrical body and the container body are synchronously engaged, whereby it will be sufficient if the container body is merely provided with a small synchronous engagement shaft. Therefore, constitution of the container body can extremely be simplified, for example, it is possible to easily manufacture the container body as a single member by die forming, whereby the manufacturing costs can remarkably be reduced. Further, since it is also possible to easily set the length of the container body, the cosmetic container having a length which is easy to handle can easily be constituted.
The feeding mechanism described above is composed of a spiral section formed at an outer circumference of the beam and a spiral groove which is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical body and with which a part of the spiral section is spirally engaged.
It is arranged such that a non-projection section in which the spiral section does not exist is formed on the base end side of the beam and a stroke limit of the beam is defined when the beam makes a stroke to a position where the non-projection section faces the spiral groove. Thus, when a guide projection escapes from the spiral groove, the stroke of the beam reaches an uppermost limit where the stick type cosmetic material cannot be fed out. Further, since the beam is urged downward by the spring, if the container body and the cartridge which has reached the uppermost limit are raced, a noise will arise resulting from the contact of a spiral groove end section of the beam and the guide projection of a guide rod, thereby notifying a user that the stroke has reached the uppermost limit. Therefore, the cosmetic container will never be handled in such a manner that a strain is put on mechanisms in the cartridge (for example, operation of compressing the spring beyond a compression limit), whereby it is possible to prevent the mechanisms in the cartridge from being damaged.
The sliding mechanism is composed of an engagement section formed at an outer circumference of the beam and a sliding section which is formed at an inner circumference of the front cylinder and engaged with the engagement section.
The engagement section of the sliding mechanism is a plurality of claws which retain the stick type cosmetic material in such a manner that the claws surround the stick type cosmetic material. Also, the stick type cosmetic material is supported between these claws by an inner circumferential surface of the front cylinder from the side. Thus, the stick type cosmetic material can securely be retained with a diameter of the cartridge being minimum, whereby it is possible to prevent the stick type cosmetic material from breaking at the time of the stroke even though the stick type cosmetic material has a thin diameter.
On the other hand, if a small diameter section is formed at the front cylinder so that the small diameter section is positioned right above the cylindrical body and also the sliding section is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the small diameter section, it will not be necessary to form the sliding section on an inner circumferential section on the upper part side of the front cylinder. Thus, it is also possible to adopt a type which is formed by filling a liquid cosmetic raw material as a stick type cosmetic material through an opening provided at an upper end of the front cylinder. Further, since the small diameter section is provided above the cylindrical body in this case, it is hard for the cosmetic raw material to flow to the cylindrical body side, whereby productive efficiency of the cosmetic container can be enhanced. Further, unlike the case that the sliding mechanism is constituted by unrotatably engaging the inner circumferential surface on the upper part side of the front cylinder and the cosmetic material retaining section which are not circular, a cross section of the inner circumference on the upper part side of the front cylinder can be round.
Further, the spiral section is a plurality of engagement projections arranged below the engagement section and on a straight line which extends in an axial direction and also the spiral section can be an engagement section which is engaged with the sliding section formed on the upper part side of the front cylinder when fed out to the upper part side of the front cylinder. In this case, since the engagement projections are engaged with the sliding section of the sliding mechanism one after another when the beam makes a stroke, the engagement projections operate as a component of the feeding mechanism which is spirally engaged with the spiral groove and also operate as the engagement section of the sliding mechanism. Therefore, the stroke of the beam can be more stable and also the cartridge can bear a load in a direction of torsion. Further, the diameter of the cartridge can extremely be thin.
The spring is a coil spring wound around an outer circumference of the beam, an upper end of the coil spring is in contact with a downward step section formed at the cylindrical body, and a lower end of the coil spring is in contact with an upward step section provided at the beam. Thus, structure of the spring installed can be simplified and also installation work of the spring can easily be done, whereby manufacturing costs of the cosmetic container can be reduced.
An O-ring is provided between an outer circumference of the front cylinder and an inner circumference of the container body, and it is arranged such that frictional force which arises due to the O-ring is greater than resiliency of the spring to cause a reverse rotation of the front cylinder and the container body. Thus, a mechanism for maintaining a rotary position of the cartridge against spring force can simply be constituted at a low cost. Further, the frictional force of the O-ring gives appropriate weight (resistance) to rotating operation of the cartridge, thereby giving an operator the sensation of solidity in the rotating operation. Further, due to the O-ring, it is possible to restrain the cartridge from wobbling.
Further, there are provided the cartridge in which an entire body of the cylindrical body is housed in the front cylinder and the container body in which the cartridge is housed in such a manner that the cartridge can easily be attached or detached. When the cartridge is housed in the container body, the front cylinder is rotatable to the container body and the feeding mechanism is unrotatably connected with the container body via the synchronous engagement section.
There is provided a cylindrical body which is rotatably installed on the base end side of the front cylinder. Thus, even when the cartridge is a single unit, an operator can feed out the stick type cosmetic material by rotating the cylindrical body and the front cylinder and can confirm the type (color) or the residual amount of the stick type cosmetic material. Consequently, even in the case that a plurality of cartridges are prepared for a single container body, it is not necessary to install the cartridges at the container body in order to confirm the stick type cosmetic material, whereby it is convenient. Further, after the confirmation, the stick type cosmetic material is automatically returned into the cartridge due to operation of an urging means. Thus, the stick type cosmetic material will never be left as it is fed out to the outside of the cartridge, thereby decreasing a fear that the stick type cosmetic material may break or become dirty.
The engagement section of the sliding mechanism is formed at an outer circumference of the cosmetic material retaining section.